Runester

This is the single best written "Advance Fee Fraud" (also known as Nigerian 419 Scam) email I have ever recieved. The gold? The first sentence where he acknowledges that my inbox is probably flooded with amazingly similar offers … but, of course, his is legit. There’s also a nice bit at the end about how this whole proposed deal is legal.

Uh, huh … legal.

[It goes without saying ... but I'll say it anyway: this is still a scam, don't be a sucker.]

Good day!

I know the internet is already flooded with such messages of invitation for business proposals; i am sure you receive such messages.Though, this medium(Internet) has been greatly abused and cannot be trusted anymore in this time of age, I still choose to reach you through it because it still remains the fastest, surest and most secured medium of communication to curb this Opportunity of a life time. However,this correspondence is unofficial and private, and it should be treated as such. I also guarantee you that this deal is hitch free from all what you may think of.

Upon special auditing panel set-up by the Boards of directors of my ISLE OF MAN BANK LTD (London Branch, UK) to investigate all credit account operated by it costumers, that has been in operation for the last five (5) years. I discovered a credit account with A/C N0: NL85ABNA6008341843 floating with a huge funds amounting to(7,467,000.00 USD.).

On further trace I came across the file and found out that the true owner of this funds is Mr. Andreas Schranner, a German who was a property magnate unfortunately lost his life, including his wife and their daughter in the plane crash ( Flight AF4590) which crashed on July 31st 2000 killing all 109 people on board.

For more information visit the web link below: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm

I have been monitoring this account ever since I discovered this information and found out that no body has ever came on behalf of the Late Mr. Andreas Schranner as is next of kin for this fund.

I am contacting you as a reliable partner to execute this transaction with me. Upon your acceptance, I will provide you with his account file information?s and documents of deposit of the account and a text of application you will submit to the bank and I will then instruct you on how to claim as the next of kin to the late Mr. Andreas Schranner, so that the funds could be transfer to your overseas A/C, without any question arising from the bank.

And for your information, the transfer payment to apply for as the next of kin should be Five Million Five Hundred Thousand And Fifty Five United States Dollars (5.5,000,055.00 USD.). As soon as you confirm your interest and co-operation with me.

I am so sure that you now that from time immemorial, those who have been inspired to bring change have all employed one thing in common; innovation, creative tools, and most importantly through good thinking. I say this in respect of the above business proposal, which I strongly beleive you will be able to handle. I have no doubt in my mind that there will be a complete life turn around, by the end of this deal. Once an interest is indicated, the necessary documents and information will be supplied to you for authentic clarification. I will give you guidelines on how you can transact with the bank for the approval of the funds to your A/C. For more details reply to my personal mailbox: clementmoorelondon@msn.com with the folowing:

1)Your full names and contact address.
2)Telephone and fax numbers .

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will
protect you from any breach of the law.

Regards
Clement Moore.
Auditor,
ISLE OF MAN BANK,
LONDON,U.K.
E-MAIL: clementmoorelondon@msn.com.
Tel: +447031942139.

IT WILL BE MORE BUSINESS-LIKE IF YOU CALL ME ON MY MOST DEDICATED PHONE LINE:
+447031942139.

Well, I got all excited last week and worked on a simple chat application using AJAX with JSON. I wrote (what I considered) clever spooling code so that multiple simultaneous writes could be dealt with, without file/db collisions. Further, it was interesting to think of the project as a set of client with no server so that all phases (read from DB / write to DB ~or~ spool) are initiated by the chat client.

Anyway, when I succeeded, I lost almost all interest in the project. It was fun while I was problem solving and learning some new things about AJAX and trying out a new (to me) design pattern – but then the project ended and I felt a little let down. That’s it? Another AJAX chatter?

I still have some fantasies about using the same techniques but for something other then human-to-human chatting. I mean, this could easily be adapted for asynchronous system events or news aggragation or something. I do really like the idea of the browser maintaining state and only loading data via XMLHTTPRequest. It was pretty easy for the client (browser with JavaScript) to know which chat messages it already had and request only ‘new’ ones from the server, etc.

Anyway, on Friday I recieved my barcode scanner! So, I’ve been playing around with that. Most of the barcodes I generated using Perl were not actually readable by the scanner – a HUGE disappointment. It turned out that the various symbologies require very specific syntaxes, and a little Perl hacking later and everything was working by the time I left Friday night.

One particular problem, for example, was the GD::Barcode::Code39
module just output the string you give it as a bar pattern – but the actuall specification requires a “Start” and “Stop” character to brace the actual data (namely the asterisk “*”). In fact, when I examined the modules code, I see at least two different places where the author added code to prepend/postpend asterisks, only to comment out the code later. Weird.

Another problem I ran into was actually in the base class GD::Barcode,
there was no way to specify the width or “res” of the bars. They were all drawn as the GD primitive “line(x1,y1,x2,y2,color)”. I overloaded the ‘plot’ method of that object, added a ‘iLineWidth’ parameter and changed the primitive from ‘line’ to ‘filledRectangle’ – and suddenly I can control the display width of the displayed pattern. [This is used for high noise environments like the dusty back of a cargo container, etc.]

I still need to find an encoding that is more compact then Code39, and I need to modify the ‘plot’ method one more time – to differentiate between the displayed text and the actuall text. For example, most barcode labels print the value of the barcode in regular ascii beneath the bars so that the value is human-reabable. Well, I’ve learned (by experimentation) that the human-readable version is digit grouping (using spaces or hyphens) that are NOT encoded in the bars. This makes the barcode smaller (more compact) but the human-readable portion easier to read and remember. For example, “NAT 900-01234″ may actually be encoded as “NAT90001234″. The first is easier for humans to read, the second is smaller because there was no need to encode the extra space and hyphen characters. GD::Barcode doesn’t currently allow that, but it will when I’m done!

All of this is moot – I still need an inventory database schema and data entry application. As usual, this project is taking significantly longer then I had planned!

Catalyst – The Elegant MVC Web Application Framework

Every so often, something happens and makes me feel old and dated. One such thing is discovering Catalyst for Perl … and finding out that ‘real’ web app developers have been using it for a while and (very rapidly) producing polished apps. I also, recently, discovered what a ‘design pattern’ is and why they’re so useful! For some reason, it’s easy to take what I know and collapse into a little walled garden where I try to apply it over and over to different problems. Meanwhile, the world moves on and builds new tools.

Did I say old? Actually, it’s more like a country villager going to the city and seeing an automobile for the first time. “What, they don’t rely on horses anymore? When did that happen?”

Another interesting case, was when I discussed owning my own house and running wires to each room and then bringing them back to a patch-panel (ala every Data Center I’ve ever worked in). I day dream about being able to send data, telephone, and cable to/from any room at will. Then John (a coworker) pointed out that he used to think that way until he started using 802.11g wireless in-home and saw absolutely no need to wire CAT-5e anywhere. I remember when wireless was 802.11b, wasn’t very fast, and didn’t pass through horse hair and plaster walls. Now it’s apparently multiples quicker and more reliable and makes the ‘home data center’ seem quaint.

In my own defense, I am trying to catch up. I’ve been reading like a madman and have already written some little apps using AJAX (with JSON instead of XML). I’m reading up on Catalyst and hope to have some test apps written using that within a few weeks. Maybe in a month or two I’ll even go and buy a book on design patterns – anything’s possible!

Now, to get rid of my polyester leisure suits and wide paisley ties …

Southern Worcester: “SATURDAY NIGHT
Snow. Heavy snow accumulation. Lows around 19. northeast winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph.
SUNDAY
Snow in the morning…then snow likely in the afternoon. additional heavy snow accumulation. Windy and cold with highs in the lower 20s. Northwest winds 20 to 30 mph.”

The estimates are 8″ to 12″ of snow fall. Today looked and felt a lot like spring – but winter is less then 12 hours away.

First, I am pretty happy with myself – I’ve learned how to make printable barcodes with perl. Thanks, of course, to CPAN and the work of others. Still, it’s pretty neat and will save us some money while giving me even more options in figuring out how to use these to implement an asset management system. I’ve even ordered a discount scanner via Ebay.

Have I mentioned, lately, how kick-ass Perl is?

I have finally begun implementing the time/work management system described in “Getting Things Done!” And, believe it or not, I actually calmed down and got a lot more stuff done. Further, I’m not carrying around as much ’stuff’ in my head anymore. It’s recorded, and I know exactly where. Cool.

ABC News: Scientists Find ‘Lost World’ in Indonesia: “JAKARTA, Indonesia Feb 7, 2006 (AP)? Soon after scientists landed by helicopter in the mist-shrouded mountains of one of Indonesia’s most remote provinces, they stumbled on a primitive egg-laying mammal that simply allowed itself to be picked up and brought to their field camp.

Describing a ‘Lost World’ apparently never visited by humans members of the team said Tuesday they also saw large mammals that have been hunted to near-extinction elsewhere and discovered dozens of exotic new species of frogs, butterflies and palms.”

"Lost World"? Tre Cool.

So, I was looking through my web site logs to see what pages get the most hits, what search terms are being used when my site comes up, etc. To my surprise, a lot of traffic is being generated by blog sites like MySpace, etc.

So, what words of wisdom are they referencing and linking back to? None – they’re using some movie poster graphics I made. Basicly they’re stealing my bandwidth.

On the other hand, my site get’s so few hits – who cares? I’ll start worrying when my provider sends me a warning. Still … what a dissappointment. Thousands of words of wit and wisdom and it’s the hack-job graphics that get’s everyone attention.

Nigerian 4-1-9 Scam

I’m intrigued by a recent flood of 419 scams, all making it past Yahoo! Mail spam filters. Where I was recieving about one or two a day, now I’m recieving 10 or more. The account is very old, and must be on multiple spam lists by now. I’m less interested in how they got my address – but in why Yahoo! Mail is not catching these.

Anyway, I usually skim through until I see a large dollar amount. When someone mentions “$17,000,000″ and/or appeals to my christian charity [in helping steel/smuggle money, no less!] I know it’s a 419 scam and report it as such.

Come on, Yahoo! Get your filters tuned already … and keep this dreck from my inbox. Who know? Maybe the 1,001st offer will intrigue me enough to get involved, while the first 1,000 all failed. It could happen!

Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future:

“The Academies were requested by Senator Alexander and Senator Jeff Bingaman, members of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to conduct an assessment of America?s ability to compete and prosper in the 21st century?and to propose appropriate actions to enhance the likelihood of success in that endeavor. This request was endorsed by Representatives Sherwood Boehlert and Bart Gordon of the House Committee on Science.

To respond to that request the Academies assembled twenty individuals with diverse backgrounds, including university presidents, CEOs, Nobel Laureates and former presidential appointees. The result of our committee?s work was examined by over forty highly qualified reviewers who were also designated by the Academies. In undertaking our assignment we considered the results of a number of prior studies which were conducted on various aspects of America?s future prosperity. We also gathered sixty subject-matter experts with whom we consulted for a weekend here in Washington and who provided recommendations related to their fields of specialty.

It is the unanimous view of our committee that America today faces a serious and intensifying challenge with regard to its future competitiveness and standard of living. Further, we appear to be on a losing path. We are here today hoping both to elevate the nation?s awareness of this developing situation and to propose constructive solutions.”

So, I made sure to watch the State-of-the-Union speach as well as the Democrat rebuttal. I liked the speach but note that there is a serious difference between what Mr. President want’s to happen and what will actually happen. These speaches always seem more like a ra-ra-session at a prep rally then anything meaningful.

The Democrats, though, still acted like spoiled little brats – happy in their efforts at derailing and criticizing instead of offering any meaningful alternatives or solutions. This was borne out by the rebuttal. Simply saying that “Democrats have alternate solutions” is not the same as actually offering those solutions. If I declare my height as 7ft, I don’t actually grow any taller.

The single most important feature to any plan for economic reform and international competitiveness (IMO) is education – and yet Pres. Bush barely mentioned it (mostly something about hiring/training more science & math teachers) and the Dem’s didn’t mention it at all. On the other hand, there are REAL and PRACTICAL plans in the private sector for reducing the cost of post-primary education and for strongly coupling state colleges with junior and senior high schools.

Apparently the only people interested in these ideas are the ones who sincerely want American youth to achieve greater college graduation rates – not the politicians who prefer to pump more money into doing more of the same. Education is the GOLDEN BULLET, that would have the single greatest effect on race and class differences, removing our dependance on crude oil, and in curing serious illnesses. Oh, and in keeping our country at the lead of international trade and manufacturing. So, any plan for the welfare of the country that doesn’t include or minizes the role of education rings hollow.

BTW: what was with the Prez sticking his tongue between his lips at the end of every sentence? You’d think his handlers would have warned him that it looks stupid. <sigh> Maybe the next president will be more charismatic and a polished public speaker.